Narrow guage steam railway - Ixopo
There is an Afrikaans saying:
"Konsternasie by die stasie, want die trein hy wil nie blaas nie ! "
Roughly translated: Consternation at the station because the train will not 'blow' (steam)
This happened to us. But there is another saying "Alice's rectum" (or for the purists: "Alles sal reg kom") (All will come right! - it did - read on)
On a rather overcast Sunday morning, we arrived at the Paton (Cry the Beloved Country) Narrow Guage Railway site in Ixopo at about 10h00
A word of warning: If you intend taking photographs, wear 'sensible' shoes as you may wish to clamber over railway lines and other obstacles. (I learnt the hard way)
Having had a 90 minute drive from Pennington we helped ourselves to hot/cold drinks where payment was by means of an honesty box !
While waiting for our journey to start (10h30) we wandered around the site, inspecting the various rolling stock items:
 | Our locomotive - a little older than me ! |
Almost ready for departure !
Tickets please / Kaartjies asseblief
Spare water for the loco
It was at this stage (about 4 kms from our turn-around point) that our loco started coughing and spluttering. It couldn't make it up the (rather steep) hills. After battling to get moving it was decided to cut the journey short and reverse back down the hill to the nearest station.
The loco was uncoupled and made its way to the other end of our coach
After coupling up again, it was full-steam again (down hill)
We reached a point where we were allowed off the train in order to take more photographs - this time the 'driver' backed up a bit and got the chimney pumping out smoke:
A couple of youngsters were allowed onto the footplate for the rest of the journey:
The pizza oven back at home base
Lunch - absolutely scrumptious !! (and good value) |  |
 | The problem solved ! It didn't have a screw loose but the two nuts on the right of the doohickey had come loose resulting in steam escaping and a loss in power. With my 40 years of banking experience I should have realised that this was the problem and advised them how to fix it |
No, this is NOT an iron-age toilet. It is a coal fired heater in the guard's van which, I guess, was also used to heat his coffee
Emergency brake in the guards van |
Looks like a device in the guards van to measure the pressure in the pneumatic braking system |  |
A paraffin lamp to show a red 'tail' light |  |
Janet Kilian, hoping to 'take us all for a ride'
